Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 93

Bethany

POV

Dad and Hank left, and I felt better as I was tucked in by Theo. I felt him lean down and kiss me before whispering to have

a good night. I felt his love for all the attention I was getting, though I felt a little guilty that I was not helping with the cleanup. Poor Theo seemed to be the one doing all the work while I slept and ate all day, not contributing to the cooking or cleaning. The following day, Theo was up and in his swimming trunks. He looked yummy as I watched his muscles flex. To my disappointment, he pulled a shirt over his chest, covering up what I had been enjoying looking at: his toned body and keeping fit by swimming and going to the gym.

'Morning, sweetheart. How was your night?' he asked as he helped me out of bed and stepped into a swimsuit. He had a two-piece swimsuit, which was easier to put on than the one-piece I would normally wear. I just remembered I wear a one-piece when I swim, and another fragment slipped into place.

'Good, I had no dreams, and I have woken with no headache for a change; I feel a bit refreshed instead of drained for a change. Headaches have been the worst to cope with; you take medication for the headache, and it makes your fuzzy head more fuzzy and tired if you know what I mean.

'That is great news, sweetheart. We are going to start something different today. We shall start with a hot spa to loosen your muscles. Then I am going to give you a massage to work out those kinks, and then some stretch exercises if you are up to it, and see if we can get those shoulder and neck muscles to loosen up and strengthen up, maybe get your arms to be able to go over your head. That sounded good, to be able to dress again. These muscles seem to take forever to get better, and holding my head up is a pain. If Theo can get that working correctly again, that would make my day so much better. The rest of my body seems to have healed well. It is just the neck and shoulders. I still have no clue what happened to me, but a car accident caused my neck and head to be so sore, sort of like whiplash symptoms.

Theo was so tentative, covering me with kisses as if he was trying to make up for not having kisses for a while. He was hungry for my lips and to hold me in his arms if Kitty had not ordered him to allow me to use the walker and that it would help me get back onto my feet quicker. I am sure Theo would be carrying me everywhere, and I am not complaining.

Theo lowered me into the spa, and it was a nice way to wake up. He said we could have food after our workout; hopefully, that did not take too long, as I had started to gain an appetite again, and that was a good sign.

Ten minutes in the spa, with Theo sitting me on his lap, covering me with kisses and stroking my body, he had me all worked up and desiring more of his ministrations. I don't think that was the plan, and if I were at home, I would have jumped his body by now; his soothing play and body rubbing have been yearning for more; he knows how to work my body into a frenzy. I think if he lowered his hand to my lady's part and just touched me lightly, I would explode, but I was not ready to ask him to do something like that. He pulled me out, tenderly, dried me off, and encouraged me onto the bed so he could put oils on me and start to massage my shoulders and neck. At first, I wanted to scream out in pain. I was so tense, and all the earlier thoughts of jumping his bones left my mind as pain took over. He kept working on my muscles and pushing deeper. I sighed with relief when he stopped and started to do stretches; he took both my arms and pulled them forward at first until I started to wince in pain. He relaxed my arms and rubbed my shoulders to soothe them, and then he tried to raise them over my head, lifting them higher than I could have gone before he started his massaging.

'Relax and let me lift them. Try not to resist! he softly spoke, as if saying something too loud would make me resist more. He had soft music playing in the background, making the whole experience as calming as he could. After a few more stretches, he allowed me to get dressed, or should I say I allowed him to dress me again; I still felt like a five-year-old needing her Dad to help her get dressed; he never complained and seemed to have a tremendous amount of patience with me.

'Sit, and I will bring out something to eat. His voice was kind and gentle, not at all like he was telling me what to do, more like a strong suggestion, and that helped me not to retaliate in my fight to be independent again. It is hard letting someone else do all the work when you are so used to doing it all yourself.

Where did that thought come from?

I keep getting glimpses of things but need help putting them all together.

Theo had to go to work once we had eaten, and that left me to work on my heart. I used my walker to go to the lab, look at the compounds that had been completed, and start to put them together. I have even been working on a better valve system for children, as they need change so often as they grow, and there is little I can do about that. I am still looking for a way to expand the compound as the child grows. There has to be a way, like an elastic kind of material, that can expand and reduce how often a child needs to have the operation. I am still in the research stage, but one day, I will fall upon one, as I did with this compound that makes rejection lower.

I took an afternoon nap.

Something I hope will be less often soon.

Cynthia was there with my mother, laughing as one of the men hit me over and over again in the face. I was tied to a bed, my body aching already, and men I did not know were in the room, all enjoying the beating I was being given.

'I hate you; why did you have to share the womb with me? You are not my twin; you are ugly just like dear ole Dad; die, you b***h, Die.' Cynthia kept yelling at me to die, as a man kept hitting me.

I screamed and thrashed about as this man kept hitting me, my voice hoarse from screaming.

'Wake up. I heard a voice in the distance, struggling to be heard over my screaming.

'Wake up. Again, I heard the voice, but my sister and mother made it harder to understand what was being said. Was it real, or was I hallucinating that I could hear my boyfriend's voice?

'Bethany, my love, wake up. I heard Theo's voice calling to me, urging me, but I was having trouble getting away from this man. His fists were giant and covered in my blood, and I was so, so scared I was going to die.

I kept screaming and thrashing and crying. I could not get away, and Cynthia and Mother were egging the man on to keep hitting me and make me bleed, screaming at me to die.

I had no idea why they would be so cruel to me. I had done nothing to them to deserve this type of treatment. I struggled to get away from this man. I am tied to the bed, my wrists and ankles are bound tight, and I can hardly move at all, so how can I obey Theo? How can I do what he wants me to do? My mind is so confused: what is real and what is not?

Am I really here being hit, or am I somewhere else?

I wish I knew how to get out of this.

I think I am going to die here at the hands of my own mother and sister.